Housewife Sasha Nuraisah, 31, who lives on the fourth floor, said she heard a commotion at about 4am.

"I heard a woman shouting, 'you don't be crazy'. But I didn't think too much of it, because there had always been fights and shouts in that unit. The neighbours here had to call the police a few times before, and in the past few months, police officers were always coming down."

Ms Ani Noraini, 42, who lives on the same floor, said that fights occurred in the unit at least once a week and would go on for hours, sometimes in the middle of the night. "The police officers come by very often. It's normal."

Ms Ani, who works in the logistics sector, described Mr Roslan as being about 1.65m tall, plump, with dyed blonde hair. He was a divorcee, whose former wife and baby son used to live in the unit with him. The suspect is tall, with natural coloured hair, she added. "I heard muffled shouts in Malay at first, before it became louder."

A fourth-floor neighbour who wanted to be known as Madam Krishna, 53, said that in the past two years, she had called the police more than 10 times. "They've been living here for more than four years. At first, it was okay. But after that, the noises would be so loud that I can't sleep."

Other neighbours also said they had heard clanking noises.

Blood stains at the entrance of the unit. ST PHOTO: NG HUIWEN

A 57-year-old kitchen helper who lives on the fifth floor, said that he heard a commotion at about 3.30am. And when he looked out of the window at about 4am, he saw a dark-skinned man wearing a T-shirt and jeans running into the unit, looking panicked. He said that he did not recognise the man, but it was not Mr Roslan.

"There will be a group of people, more than 10 of them, in the unit every Saturday. They will talk from night into morning," he said. "From the way some of them walk and talk, it looks like they take drugs."

He added that a Central Narcotics Bureau officer approached him about five months ago to ask if he knew the people living in the unit, as they wanted to know if they were doing drugs.

A woman who identified herself as the Mr Roslan's girlfriend said she heard about the incident through a friend who had called her.

Looking visibly shaken and with tears welling up in her eyes, she said: "My friend just told me to come down now, because (my boyfriend) was unconscious."

They had been together since May. Police later took her to the unit.

CID officers seen leaving at about 1.20pm with evidence. ST PHOTO: NG HUIWEN

A woman who lives a few doors away, and declined to be named, told The Straits Times that the occupants of the unit were always partying and creating a ruckus. She added that some men who do not live in the unit are sometimes seen sleeping along the corridor, drunk.

Mr Frankie Tan, 49, who lives next door, said that the suspect used to sleep at a staircase landing for about two years, before Mr Roslan invited him to stay in his flat about six months ago.

"The victim said he pitied him, that's why he invited him to stay together," the warehouse assistant said.

He described the suspect as a polite man, who would sometimes apologise for the ruckus he was making when there were fights.

Houswife Ika Fauzi, 25, said that Mr Roslan was a friendly man, who would chat with her whenever they met. She visits her aunt, who lives a few units away, about twice a week.

She said: "(The victim) would play with my two-year-old son, smile and talk to me. We talked about everything."

The Straits Times

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